North Platte authorities said they've rescued four children from a filthy trailer home, including two children who'd been kept in an animal kennel.

The children were removed from the home on Monday, after officers had been sent to check on the children's welfare.

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Police Lt. Rich Hoaglund said the home stank of urine and was strewn with trash and animal feces.

Lincoln County investigators said an anonymous tip lead to deputies discovering this latest case.

"This would be shocking to anybody in any situation," Hoaglund said.

The child's mother said she put her 3-year-old and 5-year-old children in the kennel because they tried to climb out of the house at night. She has been arrested. Authorities said the door to the kennel was secured with a wire tie.

An 8-year-old and an 8-month-old child also lived in the trailer, but not in the kennel.

The case came as no surprise to some child abuse experts in the metro region.

Child abuse investigators said they work with more than 2,300 kids each year -- all with troubling stories.

Gene Klein leads Project Harmony -- a team that works with metro kids rescued from abuse or neglect.

His Omaha office works with more than 2,000 kids each year.

While he did not work with this case, Klein said with the right help the children can recover.

"Getting them into a safe environment, and reassuring them, it's going to take a lot of work for those kids to be able to trusting adults and to build confidence, and to build coping skills," Klein said.

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Klein credits whoever called the tip to investigators for possibly saving a life -- if the accusations are true.

"Who knows as those kids got older what they would have done to manage those kids," Klein said.

Klein adds it is a moral and even legal responsibility to report suspected neglect or abuse.